CNN: With Bush's popularity shattered, "transformation of SCOTUS is his most enduring triumph"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Commentary: Conservative Supreme Court is Bush's legacy

By Jeffrey Toobin
CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/01/Toobin.scotus/index.html



NEW YORK (CNN) -- The first Monday in October -- the traditional start of a new Supreme Court term -- comes this year at a dismal political moment for President Bush. With his popularity shattered, his majority in Congress gone and his war in Iraq stalemated, the president can point to few victories in his second term. But Monday is a reminder of what may be his most enduring triumph: the transformation of the Supreme Court.

Bush has had only two appointments to the court -- the same as Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush. But the current president has made the most of his choices, naming two justices, John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr., very much in his own image -- unapologetically conservative and determined to change the status quo. Indeed, the Roberts court might just as well be known as the Bush court.

It took about a year for the new chief justice to get up to speed, but last year Roberts delivered major changes on the court. The replacement of the moderate Sandra Day O'Connor by Alito gave Roberts near-total control of the court; the two newcomers were invariably joined by Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and usually by Anthony Kennedy.

Decisions narrowing abortion rights, limiting school integration, reducing the barriers between church and state all reflected Roberts' agenda -- and Bush's. On the final day of the term, Stephen Breyer, the Clinton appointee, was left to complain that it was "not often in the law that so few have so quickly changed so much." That's precisely what Bush appointed Roberts and Alito to do.

[NC_Nurse]

1. Triumph? More like debacle. He's f*cked us all for a LONG time.

Thanks a lot, a'hole.

[riqster]

2. "But there's no difference"

All those sanctimonious fools who bought (and continue to buy) into the "no difference" meme need to look at the Supremes and get a clue.

Neither Gore nor Kerry would have nominated such cretins to the Court.

Did you vote for anyone other than the Dem nominee in 2000 or 2004? If so, congratulations on helping Bush with his 'triumph'.

[sniffa]

3. i didn't vote for anyone in 2005

if you did, then congratuLations on heLping bush win his "triumph".

[riqster]

4. D'oh!

That's what I get for typing while outraged. :blush:

[LoZoccolo]

6. And when these justices were being nominated, I kept hearing...

..."why are you bringing up Nader, that was years ago!" from the Naderites. A lot of them will accept no responsibility for their actions.

[riqster]

7. Not just Nader

...those who withheld their vote, wrote in their dog, voted Reep as protest...

ANYONE WHO DID NOT VOTE FOR GORE OR KERRY IN THEIR RESPECTIVE GENERAL ELECTIONS BEARS SOME RESPONSIBILITY.

[gaspee]

9. unfortunately

Too many people are too stupid, dense, clueless, idiotic to make the connection. Why so many people think beyond next freakin week is hard to understand.

America. Instant gratification and culture of gimme, gimme, gimme, is going to be our undoing.

Forget impeaching Bush and Cheney. They're temporary. Impeach Roberts, Scalia, and that bastard, Thomas. We're going to have to live with what they're doing to us for a generation or more. Roberts is quite young as far as justices go.

[arendt]

15. Oh, the difference - like the Dems broke a sweat trying to stop those guys? n/t

[Lucinda]

5. Well...its a "triumph" thats not going to endure

8-16 years of Dems in the White house will REALLY transform the court

[AX10]

10. There better be some liberals appointed to balance out...

these reich wing extremists.

[Lucinda]

11. Yup. It's critical. n/t

[riqster]

13. Which means we better vote Dem

I don't want have to smuggle in birth control pills for my daughters, for pete's sake.

And no, that is NOT an unfounded fear. Not any more. Two more PNAC Loons on the bench, and we will see our women in the midwestern version of burkas.

[Uncle Joe]

8. The conservative SCOTUS transformed it self

in to a more conservative SCOTUS, Bush did the equivalent of asking if they wanted fries with that.

[high density]

12. The scary thing is that there's still a year+ to go until Jan 2009... NM

[Vickers]

14. Holy shit, he wears a fucking flag lapel pin on a TUXEDO?!?!?!?!

Does he remember which country he's the leader of, or does he have to glance at his chest?

[cobalt1999]

16. Nader should get equal credit along with Bush.

And anyone who voted for Nader instead of Gore in 2000 should be quite proud of their accomplishment.

I live in Florida and any Floridian that voted for Nader is dead to me.

[Apollo11]

17. Sandra Day O'Connor was a moderate?

A moderate who did not believe in counting all the votes?

The SCOTUS is turning into some kind of an insane asylum for idealogically-driven maniacs.

These are the people who are charged with defending our Constitution.

I wish we could fire them all and wipe the slate clean.

Maybe have a maximum term limit of 10 years.

[DavidDvorkin]

18. SC justices can be impeached

With a Democratic president, all we'd need is a large Democratic majority in Congress willing to play hardball. That last part seems unlikely, given what we've been seeing, but the point is that it's possible to undo Bush's court appointments.